First, we had the privilege (privilege is really probably not the right word to use here) of experiencing the strongest earthquake either of us have ever felt. I was standing on the porch of our house when I started looking around to see why the porch was shaking. As the shaking grew stronger I realized we were having an earthquake. It shook the house enough to swing our screen doors open and bang them closed but it wasn’t strong enough to cause any damage. The sun screen cans on top of our fridge fell over, I think that was it. It lasted a good long time, maybe a full minute, and then slowly faded away. Then Maggie burst out the door onto the porch where I was still standing and exclaimed, “Holy Cow!”
Ok. Now onto the Eval write-ups. I’ve included my whole write-up this time so you can get an idea what one of our evals is like. My evaluator, and a Friend and I, went into town for a few hours for my eval. Lastly, the Culture/Language levels are Basic, Progressing, Capable, and Proficient. We have to at least reach Capable high before moving on to the next phase of our ministry.
Maggie first. I kept this one short and sweet. Chris’ is below the picture.
NCLA Consultant Report
For: Maggie Hostetter
Level: 2nd evaluation
Date: Dec 14, 2011
Location: Nicky and Carol’s house
Culture/Language helper: Carol
Overall Impression: Great job!
NCLA Level: Maggie speaks with confidence and has an incredible capability for memory – for grammar and for mimicry. We have placed her at Capable Mid level.
General Recommendations-Hey Maggie – you did so well – you’re catching on to cultural ways of talking as well as the grammar side of things! Very important! We’ve made a few suggestions for you to work on in this next stage of language study. You are well on your way! Look at the next Communications level for ideas of what to study next. Try to explain more difficult, unfamiliar subjects to your LHs as this will force you to try new grammar. Keep investigating new culture info and that will improve your language as well. Most of all, keep focused on what God has for you each day, learning culture and having good relationships with the people around you!
NCLA Consultant Report
For: Chris Hostetter
Level: Progressing 2nd Report
Date: Dec 13, 2011
Location: Goroka market and town
Culture/Language helper: Nathan
Overall Impression: Chris has been doing well. He has been getting out and spending time with some of the younger guys and with Tom’s family and is learning culture and language. I don’t think it will take long before he’ll be chewing betel nut. J He is comfortable around Nathan and interacts well with him and others.
NCLA Level: Chris did very well and is moving along well. He has learned a lot culturally and linguistically. He has moved ahead to the Progressing High level.
Details of the Evaluation Procedure:
We drove into town and stopped at the market and from there we went to a couple of other places to interact with people on a casual basis.
1) Driving in the car – Chris had good interaction with Nathan. The conversation back and forth was well balanced. There were just a couple of things that I noticed… One was “ol man iran igo long lukim pait. You had left out the long.
2) Walking through the Market. Chris went through purchasing many different items for himself. He asked Nathan to help at times which was done a good way. Some corrections, a pile is referred to as a heap (hip) of kaukau. He should have said ol kerot instead of saying carrots. There is no ‘s’ on the end of a word describing many items in pidgin.
3) Said hi to David at the store. Chris went in and said hi to David and talked a bit. It was too noisy with loud music. Good to see a friendliness and good relationship with David.
4) Talked outside of the store beside the car. Chris asked Nathan if he liked this store’s prices better than Papindo. Chris did well and when Nathan gave it back a different way, he changed it up a bit. It would be good to listen to the recording and see how Nathan said it again.
5) Said hi to Nicky at TNT. Chris did well with asking questions and wanting to know more information. Asked what time it was. He said “wanem taim nau” and it would have been better by saying “nau em wanem taim”
6) Walked around in Bintangor. Chris asked the lady at the meat counter if he could get leaner minced meat than what was there. (He was told to ask this.) The way he asked the question they thought he meant that Chris wanted the fat taken out of this batch that they had already grinded. We all had a couple of good laughs with that one. This was a difficult request and was to see how far along Chris had come along in this stage. He did well in the midst of many unknowns. Then we went to the meat pie counter to ask how much they were and when they would come. He did great and was able to express it clearly.
7) Ate lunch at Kimis. Chris asked for food and then when we sat there at the table we talked about a number of things. One of those things was to talk about fishing in Alaska. It went real well and he was able to learn some new concepts about fishing such as pol bruk or stik bruk, pis emi stap yet long huk stik, net is umben, river going into the ocean is a hanwara, huge lake could be bikpela wara. Nathan gave that instead of bikpela raun wara
8) Description of fishing rod. Chris described the fishing rod well with a diagram
9) Talked about Chris’ family Chris was able to talk about his family and the work they did. He did well here also. There was one time where it was kinda confusing if something had happened or was going to take place. It was good to see him use the word “save” in the right context a number of times which was good to see. “brata bai kamap bosman bilong dispela…” Chris had left out the “bai”.
10) Describe a place. Chris explained what the Asaro school grounds looked like and how they as a family had gone there for the Graduation. Chris was able to explain it well. One area where he said things a little wrong was about the being under the sun and that is why he went to the stand under the roof of the class room. Should be “stap long san” and “mi laik sindaun long ples kol”. The conclusion was a little weak and that was noticeable when Nathan asked “…and so… are you done.
11) Drove and talked about the Pig rope at the tumbuna market. Chris asked “ Dispela rop em bilong wanem? Nathan said it would have been better to say “ oli save mekim wanem long dispela rop.
12) Talked at the park. Chris was able to communicate well with some of the different communication tasks.
13) Express appreciation for our time together. Chris was able to express appreciation well to Nathan.
Detailed Observations: It’s been great to see you Chris progressing in Culture and Language. I can see that you have been building good relationships with a number of the young guys in the community and with Tom and Benson that is so important. Playing Rugby or basketball is a great way to just have fun and get to know how they think.
There were a few times that you used pinis in the wrong way. For example “mi no save olgeta pinis. Yu would rather say “mi no save long olgeta yet” or “ Mi no save yet long olgeta”
Pronunciation words: keep working on the vowels.
General Recommendations- Chris, my recommendations for you in the red print above. Continue to work on some pronunciation. You have improved a lot in your usage of “long” and “bai”, etc. Keep up the good work. Keep listening to recordings – the people won’t correct you all the time but they will say it correctly when they say it back in a recording. It’s a good way to learn new vocabulary as well.
Conclusion- Keep up the good work and the time you are investing in learning.